


Light in a Dark Place

by Storyteller362



Category: Baby-Sitters Club - Ann M. Martin
Genre: trigger warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:06:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22994419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Storyteller362/pseuds/Storyteller362
Summary: It's a Tuesday afternoon when Stacey hears tragic news on September 11, 2001.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	Light in a Dark Place

It was a Tuesday and honestly kind of boring. Stacey doodled on a piece of loose-leaf paper whilst listening to her English teach drone on about Of Mice and Men. A cute mouse scrawled in the corner. 

The door opened and Stacey looked up to the secretary. Nothing too new until she got a close look on her face. Tears streaming on the woman’s face. Mr. Jameson’s face had paled gulping back a reaction in front of his students. 

“Students, everyone is going to be sent home right now,” said Mr. Jameson. 

All the students looked at each other and Stacey looked at Mary Anne. Curiously Stacey raised her hand and Mr. Jameson wearily nodded at her. Everyone around her whispering to her about what was going on. 

“What happened?” she asked and really wished that she didn’t hearing what came next. 

“It appears that there has been an attack in New York,” he said his voice shaking. “A plane had flown directly into the world trade center.” 

Her stomach lurched feeling like she was going to throw up hearing that. 

“On purpose?” asked Erica Blumberg just as shocked as everyone else. 

There was other news but she had stopped paying attention feeling sick to her stomach. Stacey covered her mouth and the tears pricking her eyes. Her dad, Ed McGill worked a block a way from the World Trade Center. No. No. NO! Who would do such a thing before jumping out of her seat and raced out the door. Her world dark thinking about what would happen next. What this meant for her. For everyone and what would make the world change. 

She heard the footsteps of Mary Anne from behind her. 

Not saying a word her friend had hugged her leaving her breath heaving. Her dad. She had to call her dad or her step-mother. Samantha had to know what happened. What about the kids at her old school? She may not have been friends with Laine anymore but didn’t want to see her hurt. Mary Anne was soothingly stroking her hair. 

“Stacey,” said Mary Anne. “I’m here for you okay? We’ll get through this. We can try calling your dad’s cell phone maybe he was away from his office.” 

Not likely, her dad was a workaholic and only slightly better since remarrying. 

Wiping her eyes Stacey sniffled and dialed a familiar number. It went straight to his voicemail. She couldn’t hold it back and threw up in a nearby trashcan. Other people were crying and trying to get a hold of loved ones in NYC. 

They were this close to New York. 

“I’m sorry,” she said to Mary Anne who just resumed hugging her. 

“You puke can me all you want although you have a really good aim,” said Mary Anne her own eyes glassy. “Can you stand?” 

Her dad was at work, it was only a block or two away from the world trade center. Was he okay? What if he... Stacey began to feel a little dizzy thinking about the people she knew that lived in New York. 

She could have easily passed any of those people on the street. She found herself sobbing for the kids, families, men and women effected. Nobody could get in or out of New York, could they? 

Mary Anne stayed with her, she stayed with her the entire time. Claudia and Mary Anne had promised to stay with her throughout the day. They had called and okayed with their parents. The news report didn’t sound any better. 

Then the phone rang. That was Mrs. Cummings saying that she never heard from Laine. She had skipped school that day. Laine? Sure, they didn’t really get along but to think what happened to her. 

“Mary Anne,” she said in the middle of the night. The memory of the day etched in her mind thinking about what happened. She couldn’t sleep thinking about her dad and wouldn’t be able to see him until this weekend. Samantha and what they would even say to each other. Even her mom was going to go with her. 

“Yea,” said Mary Anne in the dark. 

“Thank you for staying with me at school and the night,” she said. 

“Thank you you’re really strong. If it was my dad I would have fell apart and wouldn’t even be able to eat,” said Mary Anne smiling at her. “You know if you want to talk you can to me.” 

“I’d like that,” she said in a small voice. 

With that the two girls climb down the steps and onto the couch together. Mary Anne pulls her into a hug, and they talk. About their families and what they hoped for after high school. Stacey deciding between finance at a pharmaceutical company or fashion house. She wanted to see if she could help anyone with diabetes like her or maybe get discounts somewhere. Mary Anne liked her intro to psychology class so much thinking her future could be that. 

The next day she heard from her dad, he was at the hospital and he was alive. Although the doctors don’t think that he’d ever be able to use his legs again. Laine was found injured and hospitalized until farther notice.

Mrs. and Mr. Walker leaves and move to Stoneybrook. 

She doesn’t go to school for a week and Mary Anne stays with her every night with Claudia. 

There was light in a tragic place and she was glad that she found it.

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve wrote client stories and little sister based stories but nothing yet on the club so here it is. I was going to put this in a reunion story but decided that this was not going to fit. Too dark of material and honestly, I’d to see how this stands on his own. . If there is something that you think I portrayed wrong please let me know so I can fix it. 
> 
> I planned on the series ending in 2000 and have them age a year from then on out. So 2001, Stacey is 14 years old.


End file.
